Venomous spiders in Ireland?!

kevovek · 11-10-2013 5:42pm

Spotted this fella while out walking the dog it was moving extremely slow possibly dying or injured I think, just a bit bigger than a €2 coin but I've never seen one this color before. Any ideas?

Sorry about the blurry pictures

Amalgam · 12-10-2013 5:21pm

Kersh wrote: »

Friend just posted these 2 pics to my Facebook. She said it is huge, and reckons its a False Widow.

What you guys reckon?

Thanks,

Did you get any more input on this, Kersh..? an uneducated guess (by me), would be a European garden spider. A female.. as they can grow to be quite plump and sinister, in size. The males are much smaller and rather plain.

I have one living between a gutter and a kitchen window frame, roughly the same size.

Kersh · 12-10-2013 9:50pm

Yep, she got a better pic - pretty sure its not a Garden Spider. She captured it and handed it into a lab.

Edit - she got lab result back - here is a copy of what she said -

Well guy's lab results are back. My spider is a FALSE WIDOW called STEATODA NOBILIS. Guy's coming to visit my house as the reckon their is possibly a nest. This spider is lethal. And truly LUCKY to still be here and didn't get bite. ..... Thank god we didn't kill it and brought it to the lab. ..... Please all my family and friends do not approach a nest or try capture them. As they said my 1 was very aggressive and being a female it attacked. Big love guy's and be very careful in park's beside bushes your gardens. Thanks for all the posts and comments as we all should be made aware that this is a problem and not going away anytime soon.

tonto2010 · 12-10-2013 10:29pm

Kersh wrote: »

Yep, she got a better pic - pretty sure its not a Garden Spider. She captured it and handed it into a lab.

Edit - she got lab result back - here is a copy of what she said -

Well guy's lab results are back. My spider is a FALSE WIDOW called STEATODA NOBILIS. Guy's coming to visit my house as the reckon their is possibly a nest. This spider is lethal. And truly LUCKY to still be here and didn't get bite. ..... Thank god we didn't kill it and brought it to the lab. ..... Please all my family and friends do not approach a nest or try capture them. As they said my 1 was very aggressive and being a female it attacked. Big love guy's and be very careful in park's beside bushes your gardens. Thanks for all the posts and comments as we all should be made aware that this is a problem and not going away anytime soon.

haha seems abit ott, swear it was the zombie apocolypse!

wexie · 12-10-2013 10:40pm

Like almost all spiders, Steatoda nobilis is venomous, but the bite is almost exclusively of mild effect on humans, without severe consequences that can present from black widow spiders. Its bite is often alleged to be one of the medically significant for humans, even though the few recorded bites do not typically present long-lasting effects. The symptoms of a bite are typically similar to a bee or wasp sting

Reports from those bitten describe a certain amount of pain, which often radiates along the limb or part of the body where bitten, and often a degree of swelling in the affected part. Some describe fever and a general feeling of being unwell. These symptoms may last for a couple of days but the total effect is unlikely to be more serious than that.

Maybe get a new lab guy, this one seems to have a bit of a flair for drama

thetoffeeman · 12-10-2013 10:43pm

i always thought the daddy long legs was the most venemous spider in ireland. Maybe someone can educate me

wexie · 12-10-2013 10:50pm

thetoffeeman wrote: »

i always thought the daddy long legs was the most venemous spider in ireland. Maybe someone can educate me

Good explanation here, short explanation : perhaps remotely possible even just because never proven to be not true.

If these spiders were indeed deadly poisonous but couldn't bite humans, then the only way we would know that they are poisonous is by milking them and injecting the venom into humans. For a variety of reasons including Amnesty International and a humanitarian code of ethics, this research has never been done.

Corkbah · 12-10-2013 11:21pm

Kersh wrote: »

Yep, she got a better pic - pretty sure its not a Garden Spider. She captured it and handed it into a lab.

Edit - she got lab result back - here is a copy of what she said -

Well guy's lab results are back. My spider is a FALSE WIDOW called STEATODA NOBILIS. Guy's coming to visit my house as the reckon their is possibly a nest. This spider is lethal. And truly LUCKY to still be here and didn't get bite. ..... Thank god we didn't kill it and brought it to the lab. ..... Please all my family and friends do not approach a nest or try capture them. As they said my 1 was very aggressive and being a female it attacked. Big love guy's and be very careful in park's beside bushes your gardens. Thanks for all the posts and comments as we all should be made aware that this is a problem and not going away anytime soon.

strange how this pic is also on the daily fail website
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2453833/Decorator-nearly-loses-leg-bite-UKs-poisonous-spider.html

Kersh · 12-10-2013 11:49pm

haha seems abit ott, swear it was the zombie apocolypse!

a little!

strange how this pic is also on the daily fail website

Ah sure I can only go on the pics she sent. Lab says its a False Widow, so I reckon, regardless of the pic, its a False Widow!

Mickeroo · 13-10-2013 1:19pm

Seems to be a lot of hyperbole flying around the internet about False Widows over the last week after that man got bitten in england. Seeing things on facebook too.

Truth is if you encounter one you are not "lucky" to be alive afterwards, you'd be very very unlucky if you weren't alive as there's no way a bite would kill you unless you have an allergic reaction. Of course the likes of the tabloids aren't going to print that as there's nothing like a bit of scare mongering to sell a newspaper.

Grolschevik · 13-10-2013 3:47pm

Kersh wrote: »

Friend just posted these 2 pics to my Facebook. She said it is huge, and reckons its a False Widow.

What you guys reckon?

Thanks,

Looks like this one I asked about before, a Cross Spider.
http://touch.boards.ie/thread/post/86209325

Janapple · 14-10-2013 3:03pm

I seen one of them bad boys a few years ago on Halloween. I thought it was the best looking Halloween decoration ever! Although after it moved, I freaked the fukc out and put it outside :eek: . They are popping up everywhere now!There was LOADS in my neighbors shed (we were clearing it out for her, she's kind of old. Good deed :cool:

Desmo · 14-10-2013 4:52pm

Kersh wrote: »

Friend just posted these 2 pics to my Facebook. She said it is huge, and reckons its a False Widow.

What you guys reckon?

Thanks,

It is harmless; garden spider.

snowstreams · 17-10-2013 2:38pm

Has anyone here seen one of these about?
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/poisonous-false-widow-spiders-spread-across-ireland-29668336.html

Apparently there were already a few other biting spiders in ireland already like Steatoda grossa but none of them have a bite anything worse than a bee sting.

cd07 · 17-10-2013 5:28pm

Dont see why they have to kill them all the same! Venomous spiders live all over the world and dont kill very many people so I dont see what the big hype is all about with the false widows which arent even dangerous!

Mickeroo · 17-10-2013 7:26pm

snowstreams wrote: »

Has anyone here seen one of these about?
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/poisonous-false-widow-spiders-spread-across-ireland-29668336.html

Apparently there were already a few other biting spiders in ireland already like Steatoda grossa but none of them have a bite anything worse than a bee sting.

Steadota nobilis and grossa are both referred to as false widow I thought? And they both have bites no worse than a bee sting in tha vast majority of cases.
There's been a lot of sensationalist crap and misinformation about them in the media and all over facebook in the last week or so, I saw the star refer to them as "highly venemous" and "flesh eating"!

I_Am_La_Femme · 17-10-2013 11:58pm

kevovek wrote: »

Spotted this fella while out walking the dog it was moving extremely slow possibly dying or injured I think, just a bit bigger than a €2 coin but I've never seen one this color before. Any ideas?

Sorry about the blurry pictures

I noticed nobody had replied to this. I'm not an expert on spiders, but it looks to me like it might be a common crab spider.

Amalgam · 18-10-2013 12:06am

Had an encounter with a tabloid-spider-of-doom yesterday,Steatoda nobilis.. walking up from Sallynoggin sorting office (South County Dublin), towards Killiney shopping centre, along Thomastown Road.

The spider was hanging from an overhead wire, just at head height. I pinched my fingers to take up the slack of the spun thread and placed the critter on top of a garden wall, then I realised what it was..

Exactly like the following, a juvenile, photo courtesy of glaucus.org.uk.

The markings on the abdomen are very distinctive. The legs are also very lean, no hairs.. and they taper off to a sharp point.

I called someone (female) over and we had a good natter about spiders in general.

Delighted to have seen one.. and I realised I would have seen one before. You don't forget markings like that in a hurry.

Noopti · 18-10-2013 10:12am

The amount of hysterical reporting lately on these spiders is mind boggling. They have been here for YEARS and are not aggressive. Also that lab report above which mentioned them as being lethal? Lol - what nonsense. No different to a bee sting, it's only when you have a reaction that it can be bad (again just like a bee sting). But you don't see people going crazy about bees!

Found a male Steotoda Nobilis in the bathroom this morning (picture attached). Also have one living in the wing mirror of the car, which I think could be a female but haven't been able to coax it out properly.

Half-cocked · 18-10-2013 10:22am

My garden is infested with Steodata. Never been bitten once. Lovely looking creatures. They seem to move into my shed when the weather turns cold.

Desmo · 18-10-2013 11:49am

I_Am_La_Femme wrote: »

I noticed nobody had replied to this. I'm not an expert on spiders, but it looks to me like it might be a common crab spider.

Garden spider (Araneus diadematus)

Eyepatch · 21-10-2013 3:44am

I have a massive house spider in my sitting-room. I went to get my camera to take a snap of him, but - My! - could he move fast! He disappeared under the sofa.

MadameGascar · 23-10-2013 12:36pm

Desmo wrote: »

You don't get Tegenaria agrestis in Ireland but there are 3 or 4 other Tegenarias here that are familiarly called "House Spiders" and they DO bite and the bite can be painful and can cause a bad reaction. They all look similar and are big and leggy and run fast.
A "nest" of them is just a web, with 1 spider in it although there could be baby spiders but they will be too small to bite.
The daddylonglegs one is Pholcus phalangiodes (the "daddylonglegs spider") and they do not bite, I think (hope).

Des

Hi Des,

I will have to have another good look at the different Tegenarias in Ireland and compare with my photos of the culprit (hope I can find them), I didn't realize there were more kinds apart from the house spider and his giant friend. My friend was doing zoology and looking at the bites I got and the spider, he didn't think it was a house one. We thought it might have been the Hobo since my father is a carpenter and a lot of wood is stored in the house.

When I was investigating what left the bite marks I checked the wardrobe beside my bed that hadn't been touched in a while and I pulled out a nest with trickles of spider babies. There were funnel webs everywhere. No way were they the usual house spider. If one was sticking its head out of the funnel you could go over and start a fight with it. I got quite a nasty bite and had to see the doctor, was dizzy and forgetful for a few weeks and it took months to heal. It followed the course of a Hobo bite. My guest also got bit and had the same reaction. We were both in good condition as far as we knew with working immune systems. I should mention though that he visited A&E only because he was a wuss (it wasn't THAT bad!).As I said I had discounted the giant house spider because of how bad the bites were, they do look extremely similar though. Still, the design on the back of the Hobo seems hard to mistake, and the aggression of these things was mad. It seems the Giant House Spider is the only other possible one but I always found it hard to believe, and anyone I'd shown it to did too. Anyway, I've heard that some businesses hire people for killing the creatures that come out of cargo.

Desmo · 30-10-2013 11:54am

Normal house spiders make funnel webs in corners of rooms and behind furniture. What you describe is normal for normal house spiders.

mikka631 · 31-10-2013 1:52pm

This should clear up a few things for those worried about the killer spider invasion of late

http://www.buglife.org.uk/bugs-%26-habitats/spider-bites

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 31-10-2013 2:00pm

mikka631 wrote: »

This should clear up a few things for those worried about the killer spider invasion of late

http://www.buglife.org.uk/bugs-%26-habitats/spider-bites

Thanks for that. I have to say I'm getting fed up with the hysteria about these false widows this year - a quiet news period I think. It's amazing how many people have been assuming they were bitten by spiders this year.

Amalgam · 01-11-2013 12:22am

mikka631 wrote: »

This should clear up a few things for those worried about the killer spider invasion of late

Hey.. Hey, you there.. what if we *want* hysteria and codswallop?!11

Daily star, Friday, November 01, 2013.

MadameGascar · 01-11-2013 2:32pm

Desmo wrote: »

Normal house spiders make funnel webs in corners of rooms and behind furniture. What you describe is normal for normal house spiders.

I eat house spiders for breakfast it definatly wasn't one. They just seemed too small to be the giant house spider although they were nearly the same otherwise. We thought they were the hobo spider as all of them were smaller than you would expect the giant house spider to be, the legs didn't have hairs or markings on them and the spider had a reddish color. I've also never met an aggressive spider before. We had lumps with very obvious bite marks in them. Any other ideas what it might have been?

cmwild31 · 09-03-2014 4:40am

I have suffered spider bites whilst in bed, no bed bugs or fleas but have woken up with cray lumps on a couple of occasions, always on my ankles, big chunks of skin at the end of a big inflamed lump, between 5-7 on each ankle. Friend of mine got them maybe a year before and saw the spider running from the bed, otherwise i wouldn't have known what the hell caused it

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 09-03-2014 8:37pm

cmwild31 wrote: »

I have suffered spider bites whilst in bed, no bed bugs or fleas but have woken up with cray lumps on a couple of occasions, always on my ankles, big chunks of skin at the end of a big inflamed lump, between 5-7 on each ankle. Friend of mine got them maybe a year before and saw the spider running from the bed, otherwise i wouldn't have known what the hell caused it

I'm afraid that sounds very much like flea bites for 2 double reasons. 1. Bites around d the ankles are a sure sign of fleas. 2. Research has shown that most so-called spider bites in bed has found them to be flea bites. Spider bites are actually extremely uncommon.

Venomous spiders in Ireland?!

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